Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted July 13, 2016 Author Share Posted July 13, 2016 Other milfs are available. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 (edited) What I would like is for someone to come with an amazing track plan to fill my space. I seem to have run out of ideas! So, if anyone fancies a go....'It's competition time!' Free pic of the lovely Nigella to be won... Overall size is 13'6" x 7' 6" empty shed.jpg era - recent turnouts #8s min radius 30" would prefer single large industry pike to a car load switcher, something like a cement plant or something requiring frequent heavy switching. Here's an Anyrail template for anyone that fancies a go https://1drv.ms/u/s!AhBKiUccWbLe-wuxl5uUY-b-CgCI Edited July 13, 2016 by Talltim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted July 13, 2016 Author Share Posted July 13, 2016 I just had to nip down to the shed to measure them! They are 15" wide, enough for a maximum of 7 parallel tracks with no room for scenery. I have no idea why 15", not 12" or 18"! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 (edited) I just had to nip down to the shed to measure them! They are 15" wide, enough for a maximum of 7 parallel tracks with no room for scenery. I have no idea why 15", not 12" or 18"! Thanks. Glad I asked, your drawing seems to show 1', the fact that the plan was centred vertically but not horizontally on the grid was also confusing me. I suspect that you went for 15" to get the balance between max width and enough space to move around. Edited July 13, 2016 by Talltim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 (go for the folded 8, go for the folded 8...) I know I've sent you this before but might be interesting to see what others think. It's certainly the sort of thing I would do on a US theme given the space you have available. IMG_3666_LR.jpg Might have to be simplified a bit to fit in the board widths, #8 turnouts and min radius, but I do like the concept. I think I would spin it by 180 degrees too, to have plain track across the door. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northroader Posted July 13, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 13, 2016 Just because you've got the space for a large oval doesn't mean you have to get bogged down filling it with a single line. Are roundy roundy lines such a great thing? They're nice to switch on and relax watching the train in motion, and they seem to be what non modeller visitors expect, but they are a great drain on space, resources, and time. I've been following the twists and turns of your thread and admired the way you could flexibly alter parts of your circuit to try out different ideas, but it seems it hasn't really got you to where you where you are hoping to be. Maybe just filling the space with some smaller epics, different places and times, different scales even, you might succeed. You've got an American diesel line, and not so long ago there was SNCF mentioned, then there's the CIE. They're all great prototypes, and all worth a try, which could be done on inglenook basis or larger? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 (edited) Might have to be simplified a bit to fit in the board widths, #8 turnouts and min radius, but I do like the concept. I think I would spin it by 180 degrees too, to have plain track across the door. I was curious to see how much would fit in. You have to lose a lot of the switching possibilities, you might be able to fit in a couple of the industries at bottom right (top left in LNER4474 drawing), but I ran out of pieces in the free version of Anyrail Peco code 83 min radius 30" Peco code 83 #8 turnouts and one code #83 curved turnout (hidden) Fastracks code 83 #8 double slip Edited July 14, 2016 by Talltim 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 I would go for fitting in a roundy-roundy somehow. Yes personally I think they are a great thing. But I think "Amazing track plan" is the sticking point here. Modern Industrial parks dont do 'amazing', prefering 'efficient' instead. The anti-dote to "boring track plan" is to place on it industries with "complex car spots". Operating at a realistic pace , & having long spurs so that even spotting a single car involves some time, means that even a simple plan can take quite a while to switch. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNER4479 Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 I was curious to see how much would fit in. You have to lose a lot of the switching possibilities, you might be able to fit in a couple of the industries at bottom right (top left in LNER4474 drawing), but I ran out of pieces in the free version of Anyrail Peco code 83 min radius 30" Peco code 83 #8 turnouts and one code #83 curved turnout (hidden) Fastracks code 83 #8 double slip Eagleshed-2.jpg Interesting to see it done in Anyrail - thanks. I had actually been a bit of a rebel in that my plan implies Dr G-F grafting an extra foot width of baseboard onto the 'industrial' side of the shed. It still leaves four foot wide open space in the middle which should be OK (unless the good doctor is considerably more ample in girth than the sylph-like figure we imagine?) In, some respects, as designed, the plan is a sort of end-to-end in that I envisaged the two yards either side of the through line being origination and destination points for each other - two laps round the shed, taking in Dr G-F's beloved desert scenery, is the way of getting from one to another. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 (edited) You could get a bit more by widening the boards, but the 30" min radius curves to get around the ends of the shed don't leave much flexibility to move the mains to give more room for spurs at the outside of the layout, they also eat into the length of the straights on the long edges Edited July 14, 2016 by Talltim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewC Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 I'm liking the folded figure 8 idea to maximise your run. Is there any reason you have to leave a big dance floor in the middle of the room? If you can there is the possibility of pushing out a small peninsula and using that as a medium industry with several tracks to switch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 (edited) Been doodling a combination of Dr GF's interests, LNER4472's plan and my thoughts on layout design and have come up with this The layout is divided into three scenes, I was inspired to this by an article by Flemming Orneholme in MR a while ago At the top of the plan is an open countryside section, deserty, with the single track splitting into double bidirectional track. This represents one of those sections of line where the extra track was added far later than the original, on a better alignment. The ground slopes up from front to back and left to right At the right is an industry, I've imagined a cement plant but it could be anything with a good range of large building to hide the tracks inside. I've used #6 turnouts here. Behind the scenes the hidden tracks are stacked one above the other for a short section to give the most amount of room for the on-stage section. At the bottom is a small yard in an urban setting. A single line comes in from the right in front of a road on an embankment (thinking concrete construction) Passing the yard it crosses 'another' RR on a diamond and continues round off scene. The 'other RR' is hidden under the road and appears out of a skewed bridge with carefully worked out sight lines so that it looks like it actually comes in straight through the wall of the shed. A connecting track provides the real run on this line. Although urban, I've tried to give a southwestern spacious urban feel rather than the tightly constrained urban of the northeast. I'm not suggesting that the Dr uses this idea, I just like playing... Edited July 21, 2016 by Talltim 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 I like the idea there of the multiple scenes. I'd possibly try to juggle things around so the industrial area is a bit bigger, but definitely like the general idea. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 (edited) I like the idea there of the multiple scenes. I'd possibly try to juggle things around so the industrial area is a bit bigger, but definitely like the general idea. There's no reason why the scene dividers have to be in the corners of the shed Edited July 21, 2016 by Talltim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 (edited) I seem to have had a small stirring of interest lately, and since I was owed some TOIL for working in HK last week, the shed called. I have made a slight alteration to the industry part, primarily reversing one of the spurs so that it now heads off around the corner to what will be (already ordered) a rail to road aggregate dump and silos, connected by conveyors to some other aggy buildings. This fills an otherwise dead area, and will act as the scenic break. The main change happens after the break - I've essentially given up on trying to make this area work scenically or operationally, and given it over to a magazine style staging yard. I also took the opportunity to replace a curved turnout with a straight one at the entrance to the industry area. Philosophically, the real change is a move away from a 'proto-freelance' approach to something more generic that can serve as a layout on which - perhaps even with swappable buildings - I can indulge my wider interests... that Murphys Models Big GM is calling me still, for example. Anyway, another blether. Here's some pictures from this evening. Looking west, the front spur that used to run parallel to the fascia now curves off in the opposite direction to serve the aggregate transfer Looking eastwards, no real change although I have moved the bridge elsewhere for now... it didn't seem to work latterly At the west switch of the industry siding, there will be a Walthers Cornerstone rail to road aggregate transfer. Already on its way from Gaugemaster The north western corner will be filled with buildings as part of the scenic divide, some form of aggregate area I think. The ladder of the staging yard came out nicely using #8s... Looking eastwards towards the dead end of the staging. The track on the right will be used for locomotives, there's capacity for around three pairs of US diesels and slightly more 'others' as the mood takes me. I also have finished the weathering and fiddling with the 38 twins, concluding with a matt varnish to protect the weathering and decals... those number boards, sheesh. Now they are ready to be shipped off to have their sound chips fitted. The NCE powercab arrived back in May,and I haven't had a chance to play with it so far. I expect I'll do a Larry again before long.... Edited July 27, 2016 by Dr Gerbil-Fritters 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Seems a sensible approach to me. Make the industrial bit work for now, and if and when inspiration striles you can do something with the staging area. Or not, if it doesn't. Locos are looking good, too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted July 27, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 27, 2016 A 'Larry Lift It' Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted July 28, 2016 Author Share Posted July 28, 2016 Super service from Gaugemaster, the aggregate silos are here already.... Certainly takes up a fair bit of room. I shall have to extend the baseboard a little to accommodate the curve to the silos. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted July 29, 2016 Author Share Posted July 29, 2016 In between crises at work, I managed to do some glueing what a faff, one section at a time. Going to take ages this way.... then I read the instructions glue the sections into a complete ring first, then add to the previous section. Much faster, and a neater fit. Silo one complete. For some reason it reminds me of the Tin Man in the wizard of Oz... I wonder what colour it should be... After dinner, more glueing. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 (edited) I wonder what colour it should be... I'd guess that it is a concrete structure (built of prefab slabs), so weathered concrete would be the most likely colour, with a smattering of whatever colour the dust from the aggregate would be (whitish-grey if limestone, other possibilities if granite). Roof looks to be tin (galvanized iron). Adrian. Edited July 29, 2016 by Adrian Wintle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeHohn Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 Definitely like the look of those no. 8's. Certainly look more in scale with modern motive power and rail cars. They leave a lot of unused real estate in front but perhaps that is where you plant some industries that you find you must have but cannot find a place for. Maybe an urban neighborhood or warehouse district served by trucks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted July 31, 2016 Author Share Posted July 31, 2016 Update: I've (predictably) had an attack of 'the Larry's' and am back to bare boards! Trying to shoe horn the buildings around the existing track isn't working, so am going to try a different approach by composing the buildings first and then the track. Model Railroading is fun. Isn't it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted July 31, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 31, 2016 Perhaps you could do a closed industrial area?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gary H Posted July 31, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 31, 2016 Update: I've (predictably) had an attack of 'the Larry's' and am back to bare boards! Trying to shoe horn the buildings around the existing track isn't working, so am going to try a different approach by composing the buildings first and then the track. Model Railroading is fun. Isn't it? It has to be said, atleast your doing something. Ive not even looked at my lot for maybe 4 months. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted July 31, 2016 Author Share Posted July 31, 2016 (edited) Perhaps you could do a closed industrial area?? I've even tried to fit Dobris into the space! But the shed's least six feet too short... And that really is the fundamental problem. Whatever I try to do quickly bumps into a horrible 180 degree bend that's never far enough away to be 'out of sight, out of mind'. The long sides are too short for any double ended sidings, which is how 90% of what I would like to do is laid out. Only the UK seemed to build BLTs that are essentially a loop and an inglenook, Europe and US it's all double ended. Apart from the ISL which is a long thin thing, and even that doesn't really suit my essentially U shaped layout form. Also, regular readers will know I've been there, done that. I could fit Lyme Regis in nicely though Edited July 31, 2016 by Dr Gerbil-Fritters 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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